Axel Thesleff is a electronic music artist from Helsinki, Finland. He makes amazing Indian infused music that’s one of a kind.
Today, I was reading through the comments on his videos – and while most were overwhelmingly positive, there were a few threads that quickly devolved into a rabid shouting match.
- The non-Indians were picking on Indians.
- The Punjabis were distancing themselves from the North Indians.
- The South Indians and North Indians were quibbling about cultural superiority.
- I was on another tab and enjoying good vibes.
Sounds stupid, right?
But, it’s also understandable. Here’s what’s happening.
Axel is making beautiful music, but others are arguing about all sorts of things. If you look deeper, most of the arguments revolve around identity.
- That “foriegner” is making “Indian” music.
- I’m a “south indian”
- I’m a “Punjabi”
- That dance is “Tamilian”
These are all different labels we put on ourselves and each other. Identities are powerful. They give an instant recognition and understanding. The short circuit the normal critical thinking process needed and allow us to quickly reach pre-thought out conclusions.
Whenever we try to grow, there’s a kind of death and resurrection that happens. We’re leaving behind an older version of ourselves and becoming a newer one. We’re killing off an old identity and birthing a new one.
When that happens, there’s a lot of resistance – both internal and external. Internally, we want to go back to the way things were because it’s familiar (not the same as comfortable).
Externally, others are also experiencing a growth (change is growth of a sorts). The world they knew – the status quo – is changing too. Somebody who was one of them is no longer one of them.
And you know what? This change is scary.
That’s why these arguments happen. That’s why we face so much of resistance from within ourselves and from our wellwishers.
But now that we know it’s coming, we can deal with it.
I’ll talk about that in my mail tomorrow.
For now, go listen to Bad Karma by Axel Thesleff.
Till tomorrow,
Arvindh “Good Vibes” Sundar